‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’ is one of our best loved Christmas carols. The author was Reverend Phillips Brooks, who in 1865 spent Christmas in Bethlehem, where Jesus was born. Three years later, reflecting back on that visit, he wrote the carol with the opening lines “O Little Town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie.”
Thinking of Bethlehem where our Saviour was born, and the whole of the Middle East today, we find a place that can by no means be described as ‘still’. For the town that saw the arrival of the ‘Light of the world’ (John 8:12) is still in darkness, in a region that still doesn’t know peace.
Read more: The story of ‘Silent Night’, a beloved Christmas carol born from faith and hope
Earlier this month I had the privilege of visiting Poland to encourage and support a fledgling Presbyterian denomination, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Poland. I spent time with my brothers and sisters in Christ and preached in one of their four congregations, Christ the Saviour in the ancient city of Kraków.
How encouraging to see a growing congregation of believers in a country not noted for reformed truth. Truly, the Lord is mighty to save and many are discovering that salvation is not to be found in church rituals and traditions, but salvation is to be found in grace alone, through Christ alone, and by faith alone.
On the Monday before I returned home, I had the opportunity of visiting the nearby Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp and learning something of the local unsettling history around it.
Before the Second World War, the city of Kraków had a thriving Jewish community of some 64,000 people. After the war, between 3,000/4,000 remained – many rescued by Oskar Schindler through his factory in Kraków - as told in the film Schindler’s List.
As I walked solemnly around the complex in the freezing cold, I pondered the harrowing treatment of over a million Jewish men and women, young people and children, on this very site in what the Nazi’s called ‘The Final Solution’. The ugliness of human sin was on full display as I contemplated the deep and dark hatred that drove so many to war, torture and mass murder. It was an awful and hopeless place.
By contrast, the message of Christmas is about hope, and the arrival of the Light of the World, The Prince of Peace Himself, who came and preached peace to those who were far off and peace to those who were near.
In an uncertain world, where so many are at war with each other, and so many are at war with God, the gracious invitation of God is to take refuge in Jesus Christ and trust Him to be the Saviour of our soul. In John 14:27 Jesus said: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
In a world full of trouble and sorrow, we give thanks that “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5), for if you rest in the finished work of Christ, you too will know the peace of God that passes understanding (Philippians 4:7).
My prayer is that the God of peace will bless you with that peace over Christmas, and that His ‘Shalom’, peace in its deepest wholeness and entirety, will be your shalom today and forevermore.
Rt Rev Dr Richard Murray
Moderator
Presbyterian Church in Ireland
